Two years ago Gareth Evans was the unknown director behind a little seen Indonesian martial arts movie but after “The Raid” premiered to raves as part of the TIFF Midnight Madness slate, a lot of doors have opened for the Welsh-born helmer. One of those doors is the second entry of a proposed trilogy under “The Raid” title with Iko Uwais reprising his role as Rama. As you read this cameras have already started rolling with Uwais already bashing a stunt guy’s head into a wall and a series of new stills from the set has arrived.
Set two hours after the first film ended, “The Raid 2,” or “The Raid: Berandal,” will see Rama continue on his quest to uncover corruption in his own police force as he goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate, all the while trying to protect his family. Originally developed as a completely unrelated film, Evans initially attempted to make the film before “The Raid” but it fell apart. Thanks to the surprise success of the siege-action film, Evans decided to refashion the material into a sequel. Tio Pakusadewo, Putra Arifin Scheunamann, Julie Estelle, Alex Abbad and Roy Marten have been added to the cast, and the film is slated to shoot for over 100 days.
Among the behind the scenes stills from the set are images of an angsty Rama wearing a hoodie and a peek of what we assume to be the sequel’s very first scene in which a still-bloodied and uniformed Rama talking to someone in an interrogation room. There’s no release date set for “The Raid 2” but give the lengthy shooting period, this likely won't pop up until 2014, but with Sony Pictures Classics also behing the second effort, it will surely get proper and perhaps flashy premiere. Check out the stills below.
